Faf du Plessis prepares to play an unorthodox shot

This picture is a fine study of South African batsman Francois du Plessis preparing to essay an unorthodox shot in the second T20 cricket match between South Africa and the West Indies at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday.

Shots like the one du Plessis is executing in the above picture above cannot be found in the conventional coaching manuals that have come down the ages. Unorthodox shots like the Dil Scoop, upper cut, reverse sweep are shots invented by modern batsman to maximizing the limited overs they get in the abridged form of cricket. And because these are practiced for hours in the nets, the execution is not a thing of chance as it is by design.

A game that is so heavily loaded in favour of the batsmen has only got tougher for the bowlers. A bowler has to alert the umpire if he is going from over the wicket to around the wicket or bowling left-arm from right-arm, or vice-versa. But there are no such indications for the bowlers as batsmen have been given the liberty to play without restrictions and surprise the bowlers.